


birthday cake

by adamantine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (all of the paladins plus a few others appear but I don't want to clutter their tags), Happy Birthday Shiro! (Voltron), M/M, season 8 doesn’t exist amen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 23:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17948873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adamantine/pseuds/adamantine
Summary: The paladins throw a birthday party for Shiro, Hunk bakes a suspiciously large cake, and Keith is late.





	birthday cake

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRO!!!!!

Shiro’s birthday cake is a Hunk original. He’s decorated it with a swirling glaze made to looks like galaxies and nebulas. Stars and planets add texture on top of the glaze and miniature versions of Voltron, Altas, the lions, the MFEs, and even a few Galra ships the Blades favors, are scattered throughout the space scenery. It’s a beautiful cake and Shiro’s certain it will taste delicious. Hunk’s sweets are to die for.

There’s one issue, however, and that’s the size of it. It’s as tall as Shiro and significantly wider. By his estimates, every officer and cadet in the Garrison could eat the cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner every day and there still would be enough left to celebrate Pidge’s birthday in April. Shiro’s small birthday guest list isn’t going to make a dent in the thing. He’s only invited the paladins, Coran, Romelle, Matt, and Matt’s girlfriend (who lacks the necessary biology to digest food). With only the ten—well, nine of them they’ll be eating cake until Shiro’s next  _real_  birthday.

Shiro would be worried if he thought the cake was real.

Lance and Allura keep sneaking glances in his direction; they’re the absolute worst at keeping a secret. Hunk is trying to pretend a six foot three cake is normal and not a big deal to make. Pidge keeps taking pictures of the cake as if she’s looking for the best angle. Coran, Romelle, and Matt can’t act to save their lives. But the most damning of all is that Keith is running late to the party.

 _k: got held up by kolivan_  😣  
_s: No worries_  🥰  
_k: be there soon_

Yeah, right. Like Shiro’s going to believe that. He wasn’t born yesterday.

Gigantic person-sized cake? Lance and Allura barely keeping themselves together? Hunk refusing to look him in the eyes whenever he compliments him on his cake? Pidge clearly getting ready to take pictures of something about to happen? Matt not even trying to keep the shit eating grin off his face?

Keith is  _so_  inside that cake.

Shiro goes along with their maneuvers, pretends it’s reasonable for Hunk to not want to add any birthday candles (“because, you know, fire is dangerous”) and waits for his boyfriend to make his debut.

Lance’s phone starts playing a song that seems to consist of one long saxophone solo. Allura hums along off-key.

The top of the cake flies off. Matt ducks, narrowly avoiding decapitation.

“Sorry I’m late—ow.” A pair of familiar hands pokes out from the center of the cake. “What the hell?” Another pair of hands, as familiar as the previous two, join the first set. “Is that—”

“SURPRISE!” screams Shiro’s former friends.

Pidge’s camera shutter goes off in sync with the music.

“Oh, that was horrible. I told you not to use the blue icing. I had to countdown from one hundred twice to make sure the cake wouldn’t melt and suffocate me. Don’t worry, this wasn’t the reality I died in.”

Slav flings him out of the cake, landing with a somersault. Shiro would find it impressive if he had the ability to feel anything but immense betrayal.

“Why is Slav in your birthday cake?” Keith asks, rubbing at his forehead where the top of the cake struck him.

“Well you wouldn’t hide in it, so we had to find somebody,” Lance says.

“I thought you were joking about that.”

“Why would I joke about hiding you in Shiro’s birthday cake?” Lance asks, incredulous.

“I hate all of you except Keith,” Shiro announces.

Not a single person in the room looks like they believe him, not even Slav.

“You could’ve waited for me to get here,” Keith says, pouting. “I wanted to be here when we sang ‘Happy Birthday.’”

“Aw, that’s so cheesy. You guys are too cute,” Hunk coos at them. “Don’t worry, we haven’t sang it yet. We had to speed it up because Slav kept texting me that he was going to die.”

“There was a 5% chance this was the reality I was going to run out of oxygen in!”

"I told you I added air holes to the top,” Hunk snaps.

“But the blue icing—“

“—Happy Birthday to You.” Hunk sings, drowning Slav out.  
“Cha, cha, cha!” Matt adds.

“Happy Birthday to You.” Keith’s voice rises above the rest as they join Hunk in singing.  
“Cha, cha, cha!”  
“You live in a zoo!” Lance dances around in a circle, his arms up like he’s just scored a touchdown.

“Happy Birthday Dear Shiro.”  
“Cha, cha, cha.” Pidge makes chopping actions while Matt does the robot (the dance, not his girlfriend).  
“You look like a monkey—”

“Happy Birthday to You.”  
“Cha, cha, cha.”  
“—And you smell like one too.” Lance holds his nose for the last line.

“You take that back, Shiro is not a monkey.” Keith leaps after Lance.

“And many more, on Channel 4. And Scooby Doo, on Channel 2—” Pidge and Matt keep going. Matt’s girlfriend starts beatboxing; she’s very good.

“It’s just a song! Ow! Did you just stab me? Shiro, your boyfriend just stabbed me!”

Shiro laughs. “Thanks for defending my honor, Keith.”

“Anytime.”

“I call first dibs on cake,” Shiro says.

The chaos around him organizes as everyone scrambles to lineup for cake. The outer layer is real and mostly undamaged by Slav’s gymnastics.

Keith slides up next to him, his smile is brighter than the flash on Pidge’s camera, and bumps their shoulders together. Shiro kisses him, unable to resist the temptation to feel that smile against his lips (“Really? Right in front of the cake?”). He gives Keith a slice with the Black Lion and chooses Atlas’s head for himself. Atlas’s “eyes” are little candy hearts. He saves them to eat later.

Shiro takes a bite. A galaxy of stars burst around him like fireworks.

He was right about one thing at least.

The cake is delicious.


End file.
